South Beach. 41 



Perhaps it was in the days of the Revolution when this 

 cruiser went ashore, and Hyler, that tormenter of the 

 British stationed on the island, was responsible for her 

 destruction. But it is just as likely to have been the other 

 w r ay, for the old wreck and the waves can tell nothing of 

 the fortunes of war.* No doubt they were rough, brawl- 

 ing men who manned this war vessel — men who lived to 

 eat, to drink, to fight and to swear; but they were hardly 

 tougher customers than those who sail the sand-boats ot 

 to-day. Great brawny fellows are many of these, that ab- 

 sorb nearly as much fresh oxygen and sunlight through 

 their skins as a Hottentot, for they wear in Summer hardly 

 more clothes than the African. A flannel shirt and draw- 

 ers, that are often sieve-like in character, complete their 

 apparel, and, bare-footed and bare-headed, they wheel the 

 sand aboard the schooners, and for each voyage they re- 

 ceive five dollars. The captain, perhaps, is slightly fuller 

 dressed and may own the boat j if not, he receives seven 

 dollars per trip. At half-tide they get the schooner close 

 in to the shore, and place wooden horses from the vessel's 

 side to the up-beach, and on these planks are laid. It is 

 the custom for the captain, if he works, to walk off first, 

 with his wheelbarrow, followed by the crew, and when the 

 captain's barrow is full it is expected that each man will 

 have his fully laden also, so that he may precede the cap- 

 tain up the plank. Thus, while the men dig, they keep an 

 eye to the skipper, and lag or hasten as the exigencies of 



* What remained of this wreck was broken up in the storm of Oct- 

 ober, 1890. At the same time great changes were wrought in the 

 shifting sand of the beach. 



